Kukla's Korner Hockey

There was déjà vu all over again on Thursday night with Patrick Kaleta headhunting and Petr Prucha laid-out and groggy on the ice after leaving himself vulnerable to such a malicious blow.

Kaleta, the Buffalo winger, represents the worst in this game. He appears to have no compunction whatsoever about injuring his opponents with hits that are somehow declared legal when broken down into hundredths-of-a-second video frames that obscure real life and real time intent but do not ameliorate real life consequences to the victim.

In allowing Kaleta to skate free, NHL VP Colin Campbell is off to a depressing start in the league’s effort to protect its players from malicious blows to the head. What effort (?), is right. Why is it that Campbell always gives the benefit of the doubt to the perpetrator rather than to the victim?

Why won’t the NHL take a stand here? Why won’t Campbell use the smell test as the basis for exacting punishment against Kaleta and his ilk? Who’s going to object, the remnants of the Players’ Association? That’s a good one.